I am delighted that Shaker Aamer is finally to be released from Guantanamo. This is something I have worked, campaigned and spoken for, along with groups including Cage, which I am proud to support and which the government is attempting to ban.
We cannot give back to Shaker the thirteen years of imprisonment without charge, let alone trial. We cannot undo the physical and mental damage of all the torture. We can see him reunited with his family and demonstrate our support and affection.
Just as nobody has been charged over the illegal waging of a war of aggression against Iraq, nobody faces prosecution over the equally illegal policy of complicity in torture, to which policy I personally was an eye-witness.
The reason Shaker has been detained longer than any other British resident is that he was tortured with MI6 personnel directly in the room, as opposed to waiting outside. If the British establishment were not totally corrupt, his return to the UK would finally make it impossible to avoid prosecutions over torture, up to and including Dearlove, Straw and Blair.
The one thing we know for certain about the stinking cesspit of the British political system, is that justice is not possible.
The Law along with Justice is long gone, this or some other government is going to have to deal with the consequence of that fact at some point.
“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”
― Voltaire
You can take the Law, Democracy and the Truth, you can tear them into fine slithers, you can dowse in fuel and incinerate.
But whilst staring at the disappearing embers have a thought for what you will replace them with.
Craig and Peter Beswick, well said. This is one of the most tragic of cases all down to Bush and Blair’s so-called “War on Terror”.
I notice on the previous thread that despite Shaker having a family living in London that the racist Anon1 would like to see him released to Saudi Arabia. This is typical of followers of UKIP and others who discriminate against colour and religion. But the Birtish public is waking up. There is an alternative to red and blue Toryism. Perhaps Obama, despite his minders, wants to try and keep his promise about closing Guantanamo.
Even Cameron might genuinely wish to see him released but because he too is a puppet of the spooks his hands are tied. The biggest danger to the world are all the secret services, CIA, MI5 and 6, Special Branch, Mossad, KGB and the rest. They all need abolishing. They are unelected. They are unanswerable to the laws of their respective lands. Komodo does not agree. But he cannot make a proper case for their existence.
Well done, Craig. And well done also to David Davis, Andrew Mitchell and the Daily Mail team for their campaigning.
Hat tip to you Craig, for a little guy you have balls of steel, and that Craig is your legacy to your son, may he have a long and proud life. Often people when confronted with evil and heinous crimes, avert their eyes, fully in the knowledge that they will not stand up for any truth and justice. This is the facet cultivated and nurtured in our modern world. However now and then there comes along a throw back and he/she will not tolerate evil or injustice and confront it full on.
Shaker owes his release to a ragtag bunch of people whom have tirelessly fought for his release, and if today he is to be reunited with his long suffering family. This is the direct result of actions of these people whom stood up and said I am not going to let this injustice happen and stay silent. I wish the example that you and others like you have set will not go missing on those bloated inactive souls whom have rented out their consciousness and are marking time for things to get better!
Fact is anyone of us could have been instead of Shaker Ahmed is a thought that not many people ever entertain or think of. Shaker was sold to the US military in their quest to legitimise their attacks on a third world country stuck in a time warp of around 14th century. The most modern army bouncing rubble and levelling the place to the ground (whatever of the mud huts and tents that was around) with the their thermobaric bombs and cruise missiles, needed an excuse for this most one sided war.
I wish a happy reunion for the Shaker family and my heartfelt thanks to those whom have the balls to stand up for truth and justice.
“I notice on the previous thread that despite Shaker having a family living in London that the racist Anon1 would like to see him released to Saudi Arabia. ”
Mr Goss can’t seem to mention me any longer without calling me a racist. I said that Mr Aamer is not a British citizen and that your comparison with Mr Mann’s release was therefore not valid. I did not say I would “like” to see him released to Saudi Arabia, but that that option had been open to him since 2007.
Everything the US governments have done since the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 as precursors for the re-design of the Middle East has been undone by the Russian Military build up in Syria.
Cameron is getting the blame, and rightfully so according to some, for it was he who in the one political act he has ever performed in his own right he scuppered the vote on bombing Syria. He made a play that it was Milliband, Parliament and the British public who were responsible and in a Road To Damascus type vision “he got it” he really didn’t.
He didn’t have the stomach for war but rather than tell his paymasters that he engineered the result, it was too close to call so obliging twits were unable to hear the division bell.
But his cowardice had been noted. Now the consequence of Cameron’s free thinking has come home to roost. They could have left the Twin Towers standing, Guantanamo has lost its purpose and bin Laden has become an irrelevance.
Russia will now decide on Syria’s and therefore the Middle East’s future and that’s Cameron’s fault.
I Had not heard about Shaker until I attended a hustings in 2009; since then I have seen the odd piece in the Guardian but his plight has been kept somewhat out of sight. I see that many have campaigned tirelessly for him and credit to them for their endurance. It will be interesting to hear his story when he is ready to give it and too see how it is reported.
Well done everyone who campaigned long and hard for his release. Why will it take a month to let him go?
Morrissey’s comment on http://thestandard.org.nz/pope-francis-speaks/
‘The Pope’s bland and uncontroversial address to Congress
What did he have to fear from speaking truth to power?
He said broad, uncontroversial things that pleased the Obama administration. Climate change, immigration, poverty, capital punishment—nobody, not even one of the moral pygmies running for the Republican nomination, would be too upset by what he said about those issues.
The Holy Father failed to speak out against the United States regime’s worldwide network of torture, kidnapping and “targeted assassination” (a technical term for indiscriminate slaughter) by unmanned drones.
He failed to even mention the massive U.S. support for the Al Qaeda/Islamic State insurrection in Syria, or the U.S. support of such vicious and blood-soaked regimes as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and Jordan.
He failed to utter a single word about the U.S. regime’s ongoing program of attempting to destroy democracy in Latin America.
He failed to mention the persecution and imprisonment of political dissenters like Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Julian Asssange and James Risen.
What did the Pope have to fear from speaking truth to power? They weren’t going to clap him in irons and let him rot, before hauling him in front of a kangaroo court, like they did to Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning.
Why did the Pope say nothing controversial? ‘
~~~
Gary Corseri wrote this poem in 2008 when the then Pope visited Amerika. For Bush read Obama. Nothing has changed.
http://www.cjournal.info/2008/04/26/when-the-pope-came-to-america/
“The US Congress, by law, is allowed a 30-day notification window to review the inmate transfer.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34363033
The Law, did you see that the Law still exists (in dark maybe) so there is still hope. Isn’t?
Those of us who have followed this story with an air of ‘battering yer head against a brick wall’ will praise Mr Murray for his courage, strength and his indefatigability.
Can someone – perhaps Craig? – advise on a a couple of simple questions of fact?
Is Shaker Aamer a Saudi Arabian citizen?
Does he also hold UK citizenship?
Or he is not a UK citizen, was he at some point given indefinite leave to stay in the UK?
Are his wife and/or children (?child?) UK citizens?
(I put these questions without prejudice to the other questions which are raised by his arrest, alleged torture and imprisonment), etc.
Craig’s previous posts on the JCHR meeting.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2009/04/evidence_to_par/
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2009/04/nobody_can_hear/
and the comments thereon.
Thanks again to Tony Opmoc for putting up the YTs.
I always thought that most of the committee members were dead-eyed but that the late Lord Onslow had humanity within.
They were:
HOUSE OF LORDS
Lord Bowness
Lord Dubs
Lord Lester of Herne Hill
Lord Morris of Handsworth OJ
The Earl of Onslow
Baroness Prashar
HOUSE OF COMMONS
John Austin MP (Labour, Erith & Thamesmead)
Mr Andrew Dismore MP (Labour, Hendon) (Chairman)
Dr Evan Harris MP (Liberal Democrat, Oxford West & Abingdon)
Mr Virendra Sharma MP (Labour, Ealing, Southall)
Mr Richard Shepherd MP (Conservative, Aldridge-Brownhills)
Mr Edward Timpson MP (Conservative, Crewe & Nantwich)
Prashar turned up on the Chilcot Inquiry of course.
The report from the Committee.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200809/jtselect/jtrights/152/152.pdf
and the HMG reply on 12 pages which I have not read.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/238541/7714.pdf
‘Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department
and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs y Command of Her Majesty. October 2009’
That would have been Alan Johnson and Miliband D. LOL
Fot the hard of thinking;
It doesn’t matter if Shaker was a terrorist who blew up people selected by bin Laden, if he was the US obliterated the possibility of bringing him to justice when they took part in kidnap, false imprisonment and torture.
The US crowed about their “right” to act ouside the Law, in doing so gave immunity from prosecution to a whole bunch of innocent, real, pretend and CIA funded terrorists.
It doesn’t matter if he was / is British, is married to a British women or has British children what matters is the law has been defiled.
Those who adhere to the David Brent rule book on manipulation “Get Their Attension!” need to read the Dacre bible “Draw Their Attention!” before they make demands for explanations for something they have no capacity for understanding.
“Peter Beswick”
“It doesn’t matter if he was / is British, is married to a British women or has British children what matters is the law has been defiled”
________________
It doesn’t matter but why should that prevent anyone from supplying the information?
Serious campaigners for Shaker’s release would presumably have those facts at their finger tips and be prepared to share them surely?
On Newsnight last night the former Tory transport minister in the coalition government says in 2013 Cameron delayed introducing new UK NO2 emission standards at the behest of Merkel for some unknown quid pro quo. The EU knew about it too. Cameron thus conspired with his cronies knowing this would continue to kill 23,500 people in the UK per annum, torturing many of them first and others with debilitating asthma . A good chunk of Shakers confinement has been on Cameron’s watch. It would have probably given Cameron some pleasure to see Shaker go to Saudi Arabia and get beheaded and crucified. Craig you are a hero of the UK anti torture movement and congratulations on one successful step on the road to stopping our government torturing our people.
Of course, no mention of the murder of poor Mike Todd who was officially responsible for getting to the bottom of why British citizens like Shaker Aamer ended up in Gitmo.
And the Pope isn’t God, for Christ’s sake.
“Mr Goss can’t seem to mention me any longer without calling me a racist”
_______________
Yes, Anon, he’s added that Stalinist-style insult to his repertory (he must be getting a bit fed up with “fascist”, “Nazi” and so on).
Be that as it may, his definition of a “racist” does not accord with mine.
I should think that “racist” or “racialist” refers to a person who believes in the innate superiority one race over another (or the innate inferiority of one race to another).
If you accept that, then it seems simplistic to dismiss people who, for example, complain about too many immigrants as “racists” : to complain about the economic, social an cultural effects of large-scale immigration is not of itself racist – which is of course not to say that some (perhaps few, perhaps many) of those complainers are not “racists” within the definition I’ve offered.
To get back to Mr Goss’s charge of “racism” against Anon, I do not recall seeing any posts which would mark Anon as being a “racist” withing the terms of my definition. However, as always, I stand ready to be corrected.
There are only two types of persons who would keep asking irrelevant questions on a subject that has the most serious ramifications.
1) A stupid person
2) A person who has deliberate intent to draw attention away from the central cogent issues (it is possible for this person to be stupid also).
This tactic was used to divert attention away the central issue of the Dr David Kelly death cover up. It was performed by some with genuine concerns and those who wanted to stifle the central, most important issue.
Which is a common theme in the Aamer and Kelly cases. The most important issue was the active and passive abandonment of the Truth and Law.
But regardless, re-ask your questions as many times as you like, couch them in different ways or change the operator in the question. You will not draw attention from the Law being trampled on, kicked and decapitated.
‘Is Shaker Aamer a Saudi Arabian citizen?’
Not relevant.
‘Does he also hold UK citizenship?’
Not relevant.
‘Or he is not a UK citizen, was he at some point given indefinite leave to stay in the UK?’
Not relevant.
‘Are his wife and/or children (?child?) UK citizens?’
Not relevant.
I answer these questions without prejudice to the other questions which are raised by his arrest, torture and imprisonment), etc.
While I agree it is not relevant to his treatment, as there is nothing to hide I can state that:
Shaker is a Saudi citizen
His wife and children are UK citizens
Due to the latter, he is entitled to right of abode in the UK. He was legally resident in the UK before but I am not sure exactly with what status.
As for Mary’s complaints about the Pope not doing more about American imperialism, I suggest that she read about the Catholic Church’s support of it, and what happened to Pope John Paul I and II when they threatened to do something about it.
Thank you, Craig.
(And no thanks to “Peter Beswick” and MerkinonParis, who obviously didn’t know or were, for some unfathomable reason, unwilling to say)
+++++++++++++++
I agree it is not relevant to his treatment but it does seem to lend credibility to Anon’s claim that the US offered to release him to Saudi Arabia a few years ago.
++++++++++++++++++
By the way, Craig, what do you think of my essay at a mini-definition of “racism”/”racialism” and what do you think of Mr Goss’s habit of tossing those words around?
Trowbridge
“As for Mary’s complaints about the Pope not doing more about American imperialism, I suggest that she read about the Catholic Church’s support of it, and what happened to Pope John Paul I and II when they threatened to do something about it.”
_______________
That’s interesting – what did happen to His Holiness Pope John Paul II other than his dying of old age?
Please advise our other Transatlantic Friend, I’m sure he has a conspiracy theory or two up his sleeve for their deaths (his hawking of various theories about Nixon, Harold Wilson, Airey Neave, Lord Louis Mountbatten, JFK and many others refer).
“Peter Beswick”
“But regardless, re-ask your questions as many times as you like, couch them in different ways or change the operator in the question. You will not draw attention from the Law being trampled on, kicked and decapitated.”
_______________
Why on earth should answering my fairly simple and straightforward questions draw your attention – or anyone else’s – away from the Law being trampled on, etc?
I’m sure Craig managed to answer my questions without having his attention drawn away.
But it’s true that you only reach up to Craig’s knee. No, make that “ankle”.
No thanks accepted in the grace it was given, I’m not going to post links to desired knowledge if they are not going to be read.
If any more stupid people want to divert attention of the debate may I ask that you use original conspiracy theories to make your point (with the exception of the David Kelly conspiracy)
May I suggest the Overton Window’s inventors untimely death at the age of 43 just 2 weeks after the suspicious alleged death of Dr Kelly (did you see what I did there I introduced a new conspiracy theory whilst referencing the only other conspiracy that my rules allow?)
I have invented a Beswick Window, you can place it in a shed or a room for escaping the tedium of blog trolls. The window isn’t a real window its a flat screen tv with curtains around it pretending to be a window. Its connected to a thing that has a recordings of 118 scenes, each scene lasts for between 7 1/2 hours to 18 1/4 hours and then loops. There are 27 sea side scenes some of mountain some meadows, jungle, snow scenes etc with background sounds which can be muted if desired.
Sometimes I go there when I am considering how many examples I can think of when my government has killed or harmed someone and shat on the law to avoid accountability.
“Peter Beswick”
“, I’m not going to post links to desired knowledge if they are not going to be read.”
_______________
No links were requested, “Peter” – just the info.
You’ll have noticed that Craig was kind enough to supply the requested info without having to post links.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“If any more stupid people want to divert attention of the debate may I ask that you use original conspiracy theories to make your point”
_________________
No, “Peter”, conspiracies are Lysias’s speciality. I would not wish to move in on his field of expertise.
+++++++++++++++++++
Can I ask you for a small favour, which does not involve supplying links?
It is the following : I cannot remember if you’re one of the (very few)people on here who claim to have fallen foul of the intelligence services. Are you – or am I thinking of someone else?
Thanks.
Pope John Paul II was assassinated for not doing enough to break its connection with the communists in Poland, and make the fiasco shooting of The Gipper shortly before look like a commonplace occurrence – like the killing of that poor Royal Cadet right after the murder of Jurgen Mollemann to make it look commonplace too.
At least you are asking easy questions now rather than fabricating lies, Habby.